Dina’s ‘ex’ a father at last!

Surprises never seem to stop coming.

Early last week, I got a text message from "Dick and Caroline Penson," inviting me to the christening of their son, Ricardo II, last Saturday. For a while, I wondered who the couple could be. Oh, yes, of course, Dick Penson who became a showbiz item when he married Dina Bonnevie in the mid-’90s and later separated from her (their marriage was later annulled, just like Dina’s first marriage to Vic Sotto, father of her grown-up children Danica and Oyo Boy).

I was pleasantly surprised to receive the text message from Dick whom I’ve seen only once in my life – sometime in 1997 when his and Dina’s marriage were rumored to be headed for the rocks. When I interviewed them at Annabel’s Restaurant that stormy night in June, I never suspected that they were actually already living apart (the rumors were true, after all!) and that, sob and sigh, they were taking me for a ride. I rode along – happily. (Incidentally, that interview with Dina and Dick is included in the book compilation of Conversations with Ricky Lo, published by Anvil and will be available soon in all National Bookstore outlets. Get a copy – please!)

Anyway, I was all the more surprised by the invitation to Dick and Caroline’s son baptism because I thought Dick was, well, incapable of having a child, a side "issue" that cropped up during his turbulent days with Dina. Showbiz-watchers were then saying, "No wonder he and Dina didn’t have a child."

Caroline Asler is a few years Dick’s junior, very pretty and very charming. She and Dick were married in 1999, right after the annulment of his and Dina’s marriage.

Here’s the short note Dick sent Funfare, together with copies of his pictures with Caroline and their son:

Dear Ricky,

Whenever I get an audience, I cannot run out of words to describe the happiness of being a father, finally. By now, you should have received the pictures and invitation for my son Ricardo II’s baptismal party.

After a somewhat turbulent phase of my life, I met a most wonderful and lovely lady named Caroline Asler at an Australian Wine Tasting in February 1999, got involved against all odds, planned for the future, underwent a series of medical procedures later that year and got married to her last year in Australia. We were blessed with a beautiful and healthy baby boy in July this year. Our whole family is ecstatic over this development that pleasantly changed my lifestyle and perspective definitely for the better.

Indeed, God is good to those who trust in Him.

Our family life is a lot more calm, more simple and more peaceful now.

–Dick Penson

Shyr Valdez’s eBookMan

Another surprise call I got last week came from Shyr Valdez (showbiz-watchers remember her as Niño Muhlach’s girlfriend) whom I haven’t seen for years. Shyr, daughter of Marcos Loyalist Cherry Cobarrubias (of Cherubim Films which produced the now-classic Nora Aunor starrer Bulaklak ng City Jail, directed by Mario O’Hara), started in showbiz as an actress in her early teens, only to drop out after doing a few movies and later pursuing a singing career.

Shyr wanted to demonstrate to me the wonders of eBookMan, the product (by Franklin Electronic Publishers, based in the US) she and her partner, Marissa Saludo (daughter of Southern Leyte Rep. Aniceto "Dong" Saludo), are busy selling these days. The eBookMan is such a versatile gadget that it’s selling fast and may soon be out of stock.

During the demonstration at the Manila Hotel coffee shop, Bulletin’s Cris Belen and I were so mesmerized by the eBookMan that we decided to save and buy our own personal copies (P19,000 apiece). The eBookMan can store up all the information you can get from volumes and volumes of any encyclopedia and with just a push of a button, you can get any information you need.

"You can also download books and music, and read and/or listen to them anywhere anytime," said Shyr who now looks very "corporate" in her blazered outfit. "The eBookMan has everything that you need and I mean everything."

Shyr knows very well what she – and Marissa – are selling.

Marissa sold Shyr an eBookMan three months ago and Shyr was so happy with it that she decided to join Marissa in the business.

"I want my friends to get a unit of the eBookMan so that they, too, can experience the wonders that it can bring," added Shyr, "at the mere touch of a button."

(For inquiries about the eBookMan, you can call Shyr, who’s Cecille Cobarrubias in real life, at 726-49-34 to 26 or 0917-538-1564; or Marissa at the same landline or 0917-527-2202.)